Introducing Air Display 3
It came as a bit of a surprise to us in December 2014 when a new app arrived in the App Store, purporting to do some of what Air Display does, but over USB instead of Wi-Fi. Until then, the Word On The Street was that Apple was rejecting apps that communicate over USB. Apparently the policy had changed.
We took that lesson to heart. I’m thrilled to announce that we have launched a new iOS app: Air Display 3. For Air Display 3, we’ve combined the old features of Air Display you know and love, with the pressure-sensitivity features of Air Stylus, and added a rock-solid USB connection for wicked fast screen response.
NEW FEATURES
Like Air Display 2, this third edition lets you extend or mirror your computer desktop onto an iPad or iPhone. But we’ve added some exciting new features:
USB: We’ve added USB. You can still communicate over Wi-Fi, which is very useful in some cases and allows you walk around untethered, but you can also plug in your dock connector and see screaming fast performance with no perceptible lag. This is great for using Air Display in locations with a hostile Wi-Fi network, like hotels, coffee shops, airplanes, and some corporate and campus networks.
Pressure: We’re retiring our Air Stylus iOS app and we’ve rolled all of its awesome features into Air Display 3. Now you can draw with your favorite pressure-sensitive stylus directly into a Mac app like Photoshop or Motion. In Air Display 3, we’ve added support for all of the latest styluses. And on iOS 8, you don’t even need a stylus: just tilt your finger to simulate pressure changes.
Pinch-Zoom: You can use familiar gestures to zoom and pan, which is quite handy at Retina resolutions. It makes the iPhone a useful second display.
Speed: USB speeds up the Air Display connection a lot, but Air Display 3 also dramatically increases performance over Wi-Fi.
OLD FEATURES
And of course you have all of the old Air Display 2 features:
• Multiple Monitors: Air Display 3 connects up to 4 iPads simultaneously for powerful multi-monitor configurations.
• Keyboard: Type using Air Display’s built-in keyboard or any Bluetooth keyboard.
• Cross Platform: The free Mac host app is not just for iOS; it can also connect to our Air Display clients for Android, Mac, and Windows.
• Touch Gestures: You can control your Mac with intuitive iOS gestures: tap or drag to operate the mouse or tap, two fingers to right-click, drag two fingers as a scroll wheel.
• HiDPI: Choose Normal, Retina, or HiDPI resolution to suit your taste.
We’ve been dedicated to Air Display for the past six years, on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows. We released Air Display 1 in 2010, and Air Display 2 in 2013. And we have big plans for Air Display in the future.
It’s worth pointing out that Air Display 3 does not yet support our Air Display Windows host. It’s just for Mac users for now. As an ex-Apple software manager, that feels righteous to me. We’re leaving Air Display 2 in the App Store for Windows users. And very soon we will create an App Bundle to let Air Display 2 and Air Stylus users upgrade to Air Display 3 for a discounted price. (I’m also happy that Apple lets us offer discounted App Update Bundles now!) We just need to update those two apps so that they are compatible with an app bundle. (You can’t bundle an iPad-only app with a Universal app so we’re fixing that.)
—Dave
hi dave… i see pencil 53 on your compabilty list, are you planning on adding palm rejection and eraser function soon? it would be nice and more likely i will choose ad3 than astropad…
Hi Ecky. We do plan to do this but don’t have any projected dates to announce just yet.
i have a question, i use mac and also have installed windows to use rhino and grasshopper
do i need to buy 2 for mac and windows ? or can i have like an account and use it on both os ? (not at the same time, use it with bootcamp)
Hi. I THINK you’re talking about the client app. If so, if you buy through our web site (instead of the Mac App Store), then we have a cross-platform discount. But if you meant the host software that runs on your main computer, that’s free on both Mac and Windows.
Hi,
I have an “old” (mid 2010) MacBook Pro, that does not have a Retina display. I also have a brand new iPad air 2 with its beautiful retina screen. How could I configure Air Display to be able to take advantage of the iPad resolution ? I saw the checkboxes about HiDPi and Retina resolution in the configuration panel of the air display host app but it is a little bit confusing for me and I do not really know which options to activate.
Thank you.
Hi Franck. Until our most recent Mac host update, retina was unsupported (ironically) on the Retina MacBook Pro. We have fixed that though so please make sure you are on the very latest Mac host. Beyond that, please contact our support team at https://Avatron.com/support.
IF the AD3 have successfully appear in the play store (android), would the s-pen feature and palm rejection feature in the air stylus appear in the AD3? also would it be possible to release the AD3 with USB debugging to the play store asap? because some people (like me) are desperate to get their hands onto the AD3 for my galaxy note pro
Hi Arnold. See my response to T von, above. In short: yes about the stylus features, but I’m not so sure about USB… I would be really hesitant to use the debugging USB feature for communicating because I think it’s a dangerous thing to suggest to most ordinary users. I wouldn’t rule it out but I’m wary about going that route.
Can I ask? If the air display 3 is brought to the galaxy note series, would the s-pen and palm rejection feature appear in the AD3? Also would it be possible to release the AD3 for android with the needs of USB debugging? some people who uses android are desperate to get their hands on this app 🙂
Hi. Yes, the S Pen and palm rejection would work. And I have to say that the S Pen is AMAZING. I love it. The palm rejection is flawless and it’s really cool that the pen doesn’t need batteries. I have another blog post about our app Air Stylus for Galaxy Note that has more details about what you might expect in AD3 on Android.
Hi. I just bought Air Display 3 and I super excited… But I have a BIG doubt. I need the option of Mirror on iPad… no a second screen. Where is that option? I can’t find that… please help me!
Hi Alejandro. Good news: it’s simple. My favorite kind of question. 🙂 While connected to Air Display, just go to System Preferences on your Mac and open the Displays panel. In the Arrangement tab, click the Mirror checkbox.
I just bought Air Display 3. I can get it to link from my macbook to my ipad using the USB cable, but not on my wifi network? Please help.
Also, I cannot figure out how to rearrange the screen locations or mirroring. All online questions/videos show drop down menus for older versions or air display, under preferences on my version those options are not there.
Hi Craig. I recommend contacting our support team at https://Avatron.com/support. They’ll get you started. Meanwhile, display arrangement is controlled by Mac OS X in the Displays system preferences panel.
Sounds just awesome.
Are you guys working on a hosting windows version?
Any estimated time for this release?
Thanks,
Shany.
Hi Shany. Nothing to announce right now. Stay tuned. I’m wary about announcing target release dates because I was so embarrassingly inaccurate about it when pre-announcing one of other products, Everydisk.
I will say that a Windows host for AD3 is definitely on our roadmap but we’re pretty severely understaffed at the moment.
May I ask… If the Air display 3 will be released in android, will the s pen support the pen pressure activity for the galaxy note devices?
Also would it be possible if you release the android version first (that needs usb debugging settings) because some people are eager and would do anything to get AD3 for android 🙂
Hi Defie.
We don’t have anything to announce regarding Air Display 3 on Android just yet, but you’re right that adding S Pen support (like our other app, Air Stylus for Galaxy Note) would be a good idea. 🙂 And the suggestion about releasing as Wi-Fi only is reasonable.
Cheers!
Dave
This update is frustrating, now this is useless to me because my mac and iPad are running on two different kinds of air display so i can’t connect the two anymore. i am not supporting a company who makes there users pay for an app, updates the app and then makes them pay the difference for the new app. what terrible service
Hi. Sorry to hear about your frustration! I’ll try to help. First, unless I’m missing something about your configuration, you should be able to connect the two. The latest Mac host does connect to both Air Display 2 and 3. If you are having any difficulty with that, just explain the details to our cheerful, helpful support team at http://34.221.205.203/support. They can help!
And we do have an Upgrade Bundle that lets you just pay the difference between the prices of AD2 and AD3. (We raised the price from $10 to $15 when we threw in all of the features of Air Stylus (which until today was priced at $20 but is now down to $15 as well).
The Upgrade Bundle is in Apple’s approval queue right now, and with luck will be live by tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Hello,
I cannot find the $5 upgrade bundle on Itunes. It is live yet? I got AD2 in Jan and would love to use 3. I do have the version 3 host on my mac and the ver 2 app on my phone and it seems to work fine BTW!!!
Hi Roy. It wasn’t live when you asked but now it is. The price (in the US Store) is US$15 minus the price you paid for AD2 and/or Air Stylus. So for most people, US$5 or free. Cheers!
Hi Avatron,
I have bought Air Display 2 to use our family 27″ iMac as a secondary display to my Macbook Pro.
The result has been average due to the fact that the performance of the secondary screen was limited by the throughput of the WiFi connection. But the concept worked fine: the iMac worked perfectly as secondary display for my Macbook Pro…
My question: with Air Display 3 – can I connect my Macbook Pro and iMac with USB?
This would probably overcome the performance issues over the WiFi setup I have been using thus far.
Really eager to read your response!
Regards,
Johan.
Hi Johan. The answer is the same as the answer to all interesting questions: It depends. While you can’t connect two Macs with USB, you can use an Ethernet cable. Does your MBP have an Ethernet connection or do you have an adapter?
Hi Dave,
I just bought Air Display for Android (After looking carefully every similar app)
and I am feeling very satisfied with the results!
I just found out that iOS/OSX users have more features than windows/android, features that would be VERY useful to me, so this is only to let you know that I would be another customer to gladly buy the newer updated app for these platforms. Hope you consider releasing it soon. Thanks!
Hi Rainier. Yes, there’s some room for improvement in Air Display for Android, both in feature set and in performance. We’re working on it!
my old itunes account, I had all of your windows compatible products:
– Air Display
– Air Display 2
– Air Sharing
Created new itunes account so I’m not sharing with my wife and I have a clean account.
I ended up buying AirDisplay3 over the others because of the brand recognition. I didn’t realize that it was Mac only. It is there in the text, but very subdued. “attach display to your mac…”
Fair enough. I spent 14.99 on what is an amazing product for Mac. It will be an amazing product for Windows as well I’m sure in time. I’m not sure if it’ll have USB support (I really hope so!).
Is there any possibility of getting AD2 transferred from my old account to my new account? Or just a free download (I’ve paid for AD1, AD2 & AD3, so it’s not quite free). I’m sure I can provide some sort of confirmation.
I’m not asking to move everything over (though Air Sharing would be nice, I prefer not AD1), but AD2 would allow me to stay with Avatron until AD3 is Windows ready.
Right now I need a 3rd mini display to get at my host OS (win) when my VM (linux) is full screen on my 2 displays. If I have to purchase a new software for iphone/ipad display, I’ll likely just get another product. I’ll still likely head back to you guys when AD3 is windows ready if it’s better.
Just checking
Hi Shawn, while there’s nothing we can do to change app ownership from one account to another (because Apple controls all of that), we might be able to help you out in another way. Please contact our support team (http://34.221.205.203/support) and let them know about your situation. Tell them Dave sent you.
Cheers!
If I have air display 3 on my ipad and Air display 2 on my windows will they work together. I have air display 2 for both but would like to upgrade my apple products to display 3? Will I still be able to use the windows laptop (air display2) with the ipad and mac units using air display 3?
I THINK you’re asking if you can update the Mac host to the latest, and still connect it to AD2 on your Windows machine and AD3 on your iPad? (Not the Air Display for Mac client app.) If so, then yes, we’ve tested the latest Mac host with all of our various client apps for iOS, Windows, Mac, and Android.
(If that’s not what you meant, let me know.)
Hey, im wondering if air display 3 is like air display 2, but with more features? thanks!
~Mspoun
Hi Mspound. Yes, like Air Display 2, but with more features (USB connection, pressure-sensitivity, pinch-zoom, speed enhancements). BUT unlike Air Display 2 it doesn’t connect to Windows or run on iOS 6.
—Dave
Can I use Air Display 3 with ipad 2?
Hi. Yes, it works with iPad 2. The only thing you can’t do on an iPad 2 is use a pressure-sensitive stylus. But that’s only because the available pens use Bluetooth LE, which isn’t present on that iPad.
Does the “quality” of the USB/lightning cord matter? Meaning, d0 I need to use an OEM lightning cord for the app, or can I use a charging/synch aftermarket cord? I have both – just curious.
I have used AD2 for a while now, and just purchased AD3. To be 100% honest, paying $15 for the app, but being able to use USB is a bargain. It beat having to buy a separate monitor when you can’t use the wifi!
For all of you complaining about the cost of upgrading, please stop. If you like the app, and you want Avatron to be around in the future to make our lives easier – pay for the upgrade.
Thanks for making great products!
Hi Rob. I haven’t heard any reports of problematic Lightning cables. I suppose it could conceivably be an issue if the cable is poorly shielded and in an area with high electromagnetic interference. But this seems like a remote possibility. Basically, if the cable works to sync your iPad it should work fine for Air Display. Both just use Apple’s USB library for communicating over the cable.
Cheers,
—Dave
I have air display 3 on my I pad 2. But air display 3 is not suporting with windows 7. So what should do?
Hi Kuldeep. Sorry about that. Please contact our support team by visiting http://34.221.205.203/support. Apple is pretty good about providing refunds when somebody accidentally purchases something that’s not compatible with their hardware.
—Dave
Greetings, i have an iPad 3 retina version. i just wonder that does the lightning port perform faster than 30 pin on the Air Display3’s USB connection? so that i would upgrade to iPad air2 with worth enough coins! i connected with USB 3 port. thank you in advance.
Hi Oun.
You won’t notice any difference from the USB speed. It’s already blindingly fast, so it’s never the performance bottleneck. Depending on the speed of your iPad and your host Mac, the CPU speed of one or the other of those will be the limiting factor. If you have a desktop Mac (iMac or Mac Pro), you may see big performance increases after upgrading to an iPad Air 2. But if you are on a MacBook Pro (particularly an older one) or especially a MacBook Air, you probably won’t see much difference. (But you’d have a pretty awesome and lightweight iPad, which wouldn’t be that bad!)
Hi there,
I’ve been hoping there would be an update to support USB for a while. Just wondering if the iPad requires the lightning cable or if the older cable with an iPad 3 is supported too?
Thanks!
Hi Chris. This works over either Lightning or the older 30-pin dock connector. As far as our software is concerned, they’re both wrapping a USB connection.
Great, thank you!
Hello,
I just purchased AD 3 in the hope I would get rid of the lag induced by the Wi-Fi link (due to my router) which made AD 2 inusable in my opinion.
I really like the possibility of being able to use my old ipad 2 as a secondary screen. However, I still get some issues. The lag got better, but when I try to run apps like Safari in full screen, I can see a duplicate of half of the second screen on my main screen. What could by the solution to this problem ?
Thank you,
Best Regards,
Emile
Ok after some investigation, I found out my problem is solved when I uncheck the “Show inactive displays in a local window” … how this helps reproduce and solve this issue..
Thanks
Hi Emile. Turns out the local window feature wasn’t terribly confusing until this version. Now, it’s more of a nuisance than a benefit, because most people will probably be using USB a lot of the time. We originally added the feature so that if your Wi-Fi connection drops, you aren’t left with some missing windows hidden on an invisible screen. But it doesn’t make sense with a USB connection, so we’ll be turning the local window option off by default in the next Mac host update. (Probably later today or tomorrow.)
Hi!
I’m unable to open the Air Stylus app. I’m on windows 7, and I have Air Display 2 on my iPad,but everytime I try to open the Air Stylus app, I get a pop-up message on my iPad saying that I need to update the drivers on my host computer (pc) but the drivers are up to date.
Any advise how to fix this until we get the bundle?
Hi Melanie. Unfortunately, the answer is that we don’t have Windows drivers for Air Stylus. It only connects to a Mac. (And the Upgrade Bundle, like Air Display 3, will be only for Mac as well.) We are looking at adding Windows support but have nothing to announce yet.
—Dave
Well that explains it. Guess I should have dug a little deeper before posting.
Thanks for the answer. I have a Mac too, so I can manage, but I’m more a pc person so I won’t hide that I’ll be hoping for a windows version to come out eventually.
Thanks again!
You glossed over the fact that the bifurcation lets you charge full price, yet again, for the new version. Sorry, but I’m not paying full price 3 times for the same app. And Duet seems to have figured out how to offer a discount without a “bundle,” for all users, not just those that are upgrading. As the sharks say, “I’m out.”
Michael,
I’m sorry to hear that. Thank you for your support in the past. But be assured that if you’ve bought Air Display 2, it will continue to work. You have no obligation to upgrade to keep using Air Display 2 or Air Stylus.
I’ll just point out that a comparison to a two-month app like Duet is a little unfair; they would have no reason to offer an upgrade yet. And once our Upgrade Bundle goes live, upgrading will be much cheaper than a new purchase. For example, if you bought Air Stylus for $15, you will get the upgrade to Air Display 3 for free. If you bought Air Display 2 for $9.99, the upgrade will cost $5.
That’s an awesome policy. If that really is the intended pricing.
I am in the market right now for a duel display app but I’m a full windows user for desktops but plan to get a mac soon.
didn’t know if it was worthwhile getting air display 2 but with such an intended upgrade policy (more than fair), i’ll bite and buy air display 2 for now.
Thanks and keep up the good work.
Thanks, KL. Watch for a free update to update AD2 in maybe a week after it clears Apple approval.
Update: the upgrade bundle is live now. Just search for air display upgrade bundle in the App Store. Cheers!
Hi are you planning to release AirDisplay 3 with USB support for Android as well? What is your time schedule?
best wishes
Hi Mathias. We hope Google adds USB support to the Android SDK. So far, though, it’s only available in “Developer Mode.”
Hi Dave thanks for your response… I wonder how this competitors do their magic… https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devguru.eltwomonusb
best wishes and hopes
Interesting. It appears that they require installing a USB driver from the phone’s manufacturer. So for a Galaxy Note, you’d get a USB driver from Samsung and install that. We’ll investigate.
Thanks!
—Dave
Do you plan to update the app to support windows at any point?
Hi Dan. We are exploring our options at this point, as there are some challenges for us on the Windows platform. For now, the Air Display 3 app can connect to Mac only, while Air Display 2 can connect to both Mac and Windows. Sorry I can’t be more definitive at this point.
Cheers,
Dave
I guess I dont understand why I would need to buy version 2 right now since version 3 is already out. Could you just update version 3 to run on windows over wifi as version 2 does, then add usb later if possible?
We could, but we have some other improvements in the pipeline for the Windows host. It’s just taking longer than we had hoped. The enormous variety of Windows hardware and software configurations makes driver development, and especially testing, challenging!
I got the Air Display 3 app and must say it is great. I am looking at getting a stylus for it for photoshop editing. Does it support the Wacom Creative 2 stylus?
Yes, Air Display 3 supports the Wacom Creative Stylus 2. I’m about to post a list of supported pens in response to an earlier question from Pedro. One of our engineers is putting together that list now.
Dave
Hi, Dave.
I have just bought the Air Display 2. Since I cannot update to the new version, I was wondering how can I get a discount on the new version. Really love this software and I am exciting to keep using it.
Thanks,
Hi Ricardo. Please check out my response to Pedro. Short version: there’s no discounted upgrade available just yet but we’re working on it.
Hey guys,
I’ve been using Air display 1 and 2 (just payed and updated to 2…) and now I updated to 3. Can’t find a suitable host for my mac though. So there’s a version mismatch. No AD3 to be found on your website either.
How can I use my new version?
Hi Maarten. Thanks for your support! You’re awesome.
It sounds like your Mac is still running an older version of the host software. The only reasons I can think of offhand that you might be running into this are: (1) that Mac is running Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6), which can’t run our latest host software; (2) you have auto-update disabled in the host settings, and you haven’t gotten the latest updates, or (3) something went wrong somewhere during the installation process or due to some crash or disk problem, and your installation is incomplete.
Fortunately, the solution to all of these problems except running on Snow Leopard (which, sorry, won’t work) is the same: just download the latest. (Our Support technician suggests that uninstalling and then reinstalling will be a more bullet-proof approach but this will save you a reboot and will almost certainly work.) Just go to getairdisplay.com to download the latest. And if you have any questions the best resource is our support team, at http://34.221.205.203/support.
Hi Dave
Air Display 3 seems awesome. Where can we find a stylus compatibility list? For example, does pencil by FiftyThree works with AD3?
Also, I have been a customer since the very first version of Air Display but never got Air Stylus. Will there be an”upgrade path” or discount of some sort for me?
Thanks
Pedro
Hi Pedro. Good questions.
We don’t yet have a method to offer a discounted upgrade, but we’re working on that. We’re going to try to subvert Apple’s “app bundle” feature to release what we’ll call an Upgrade Bundle, which should contain Air Display 2, Air Stylus, and Air Display 3. So if you bought one of the older apps you’d just pay the difference between the original app and Air Display 3. We think it will work but first we need to make Air Stylus a universal app. (We learned the hard way that all apps in a bundle need to work on the same set of devices. That’s why we didn’t have a bundle available upon Air Display 3’s launch. But stay tuned!)
As for compatible pens, this is from the Air Display 3 FAQ:
Wacom
– Intuos Creative Stylus
– Intuos Creative Stylus 2
– Bamboo Stylus Fineline
Adonit
– Jot 4
– Jot with Pixelpoint
Adobe
– Ink
Fifty-three
– Pencil (no palm rejection or eraser support yet)
Your finger and most ‘unsupported’ pens would have pressure sensitive events with Air Display 3 on iOS 8 devices, but with less pressure precision than a Bluetooth stylus. Please note that Fifty-three’s Pencil is not actually pressure-sensitive, but its shape allows you to simulate pressure on iOS 8 by changing the angle.
My personal favorites are the Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus 2 and Bamboo Fineline. We had two Adobe Ink units have dead batteries, and I’ve
hi,
i’m a display 2 user. it’s a great app.
and i see there is a new price for display 3 on app store.do it means ，i must pay for it if i want to use display 3 ?
thanks
robin
Hi Robin. Yes, Air Display 3 is a separate app. This bifurcation allowed us to continue to support the Windows host in AD2, and to support USB in AD3. And frankly every couple of years we have to offer a paid upgrade in order to stay in business and make cool new apps. We’re looking at options to offer a discounted upgrade path, but haven’t nailed that down yet.
—Dave
You may have already noticed, but we now have an Upgrade Bundle that just lets you pay the difference between what you paid for AD2 and the price of AD3. Just search for Air Display Upgrade Bundle in the App Store.
Can you update Air Display 2 to Air Display 3?
Hi Ethan. As of now, you can’t get a discounted upgrade to Air Display 3 from Air Display 2 or Air Stylus, but we’re looking at options for doing that with an App Bundle containing all three apps. Stay tuned!
—Dave
Please do it fast ! Air display 2 doesn’t support multi display use.
thanks
Hi. Actually it does! That was one of the features added in Air Display 2: support for multiple concurrently connected monitors. Try it!
Cheers,
Dave
The impending bundle pricing is great news. Can I assume you’ll be notifying your Air Stylus mailing list subscribers when this bundle is ready?
You bet! I haven’t put out a newsletter to all of our subscribers yet because I would prefer that they find out about Air Display 3 at the same time that the Upgrade Bundle is ready. But that will be happening soon.
How soon? I only purchased AD2 a month ago, seems a waste of money now having to pay to upgrade to 3 so soon even if it is discounted. Love the app but paying for an upgrade a month after a purchase seems crazy.
Hi Llew. The upgrade bundle will go live as soon as Apple accepts our latest build of Air Stylus (we had to resubmit it as a Universal app for iPhone and iPad before we were allowed to put it in a bundle with other Universal apps). Any day now, but their queue seems to be slowing. Our latest Air Display 3 update submission has been languishing comfortably in the queue for 13 days now.
No need to worry about the cost: the price is simply the difference between the price of AD2 and AD3. (AD2 was US$10; AD3 is $15. The bundle is $15.) So you’ll end up paying the same for AD2 plus the upgrade bundle as you would if just buying AD3. (And Air Stylus users will get the upgrade for free.)
UPDATE: That wasn’t quite accurate. Apple JUST approved our universal Air Stylus update, but then we had to resubmit the upgrade bundle for review. So we still have to wait for that to go through the queue. Fortunately Apple’s bundle approval process is much quicker than their app approvals because they’re really just checking the bundle description to make sure it’s not misleading or offensive. So, hopefully in a day or two we’ll have an Upgrade Bundle!